Tuesday, September 06, 2005

Nice cup of tea and a sit down

Hereabouts, for the tea drinker who'd like a cuppa like the cuppa he used to drink long ago in the land of his youth, one of the best and locally available cuppas is Marks & Spencer Extra Strong Tea. Locally, being on Hong Kong island. There's an M&S in the central business district at the junction of Pedder Street and Queen's Road Central. Another M&S store for the longest time was at Pacific Place shopping mall at Admiralty. But the landlord, Swire's, refused to renew the lease and so Marks had to move out this summer. They are now in Times Square, Causeway Bay.
(Retail rant.) Swire's said it wanted to change the 'retail mix': kick out M&S and fill the space with even more designer boutiques selling crap at obscenely high prices: HK$1,000 t-shirts, HK$1,200 flip-flops. I kid you not. (/Retail rant over.)
Anyway, I have it on good authority (thanks, Nick G!) there is also a Marks store in Taikoo Shing. Failing that, our local Wellcome supermarket sells a 'quality blended tea with a full and refreshing flavour' made by Australia's First Choice. It is good and robust.
Currently, however, we are enjoying PG Tips, brought back from the motherland to a little island in the South China Sea by a good friend. It was a surprise gift. Thanks, Francoise! As is, or drop some fresh ginger, cardoman and cinnamon in and voila: Marsala Tea! Sort of.
We also sup, from time to time, Bo Lai tea, a Japanese green tea and, when that urge occasionally comes upon us, bunker-buster strength Iron Buddha black Yunnan tea. So many teas, so little time.
For much more about a nice cup of tea and a sit down, please click here.
How to make a perfect cuppa? The 11 steps to a perfect cup of tea -- George Orwell's Tea Rules click here.

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